Health Policy Analysis and Population Health

Catalog description

This course will provide an overview of issues related to health policy, public policy, health care systems, and population health. Topics include valuation of life, healthcare spending, US healthcare policies including Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act, information asymmetry, private insurance markets, social determinants of health and health disparities, environmental policy, child health policy, gun violence, and the opioid epidemic. Throughout the course, there will be discussions of methods used in policy evaluation, including cost-effectiveness and tools to distinguish causation from correlation. HUMBIO 3B, with HUMBIO 2B and HUMBIO 4B, satisfies the Writing in the Major (WIM) requirement for students in Human Biology. HUMBIO 3A and HUMBIO 3B are designed to be taken concurrently. Periodically there will be lectures that address related content in the two courses. Concurrent enrollment is strongly encouraged and is necessary for majors to meet recommended declaration deadlines. Human Biology majors are required to take the Human Biology Core Courses for a letter grade.